Boston’s hand in the mobile market

With the growing popularity of the smartphone market, millions of consumers find their cell phones convenient guides to everyday life.

According to the Pew Research Center, about 35 percent of American adults own a smartphone. These phones utilize a wide variety of applications, or “apps,” programs that help users perform specific tasks.

With nearly 1.5 billion apps downloaded monthly in Apple’s App Store and about 640 million monthly in Google’s App Store – the equivalent for the Android Market – smartphone users can use thousands of apps to assist in daily tasks, ranging from to-do lists to banking and social networking.

“I use The New York Times app to keep up with the news,” said Boston University College of Communication freshman Sara McDonough. “Which is more convenient because I can access it whenever.”

The Rise of Mobile 

Development

Over the past few years, mobile development companies have grown in cities across the country, and Boston is no exception. Ranging from startups to award winning developers, a myriad of companies have put Boston on the map in the digital age.

Having developed more than 50 mobile applications in the past five years, Raizlabs in Brookline is one of the most notable mobile development teams in the area. The company touts clients including Benjamin Moore, a paint company, Rue La La, an exclusive fashion website, as well as Bank of America and Aflac.

Raizlabs is involved with numerous local organizations with emphasis on serving the Boston community, according to the company’s website. Said organizations include Mobile Monday, a series of networking events aiming to connect investors with startups and companies with new employees, and Mass Mobile, a conglomerate of Boston-area developers.

Raizlabs also founded DrinksOnTap, a group that meets every three to four months to discuss issues among local iPhone developers.

Even local college graduates have worked their way into the mobile development business. Design project TwoSixtyTwo, founded by Berklee College of Music alum Brian Schachter, offers apps in Apple’s App Store for music students to develop “a better musical ear.”

Schachter’s apps include Interval Ear Training, which helps improve sense of pitch, transcription skills and improvising skills, as well as Melody Ear Training, which takes training “to the next level by combining intervals to form a melody.” He has also developed musical instrument apps, allowing users to play the Beatbox Pad and Blues Guitar.

Schahter’s success with TwoSixtyTwo, including the creation of four apps and numerous website designs, has allowed him to move to Austin with the Texas-based mobile development firm Mutual Mobile.

Boston Government Gets Involved

The state government has also developed apps. They aim to connect the public to city officials through technology in order to report issues in real time.

This spring, the Office of New Urban Mechanics released an early plan for an app called Street Bump and asked for suggestions on how to perfect it.

The idea of the app is simple – while driving, the smartphone will use accelerometers to record bumps from potholes. By matching GPS locations with sudden jolts of movement, the city will have a map of potholes and other areas in need of repair.

With the help of mobile application developer Connected Bits, the city of Boston also introduced the “Boston Citizens Connect” app in 2009, allowing users to report a variety of issues including potholes, damaged signs and graffiti. According to the app description, the reports are “automatically fed into the City’s work order system so that they can be tracked and assigned to service teams.”

“We have since added the ability to submit reports through SMS, Twitter and through the public website,” said Arlen Plotkin, Citizens Connect developer.

BU iPhone

Released in April 2010, the BU iPhone app is a free suite of apps with easy access to the university website.

The suite includes a map of the campus with WiFi hotspots, parking lots, shuttle stops, a calendar of events, a course directory and a student/faculty directory.

The BU Shuttle schedule also boasts a more recently added feature: the shuttle buses are shown on a map in real time, using GPS positioning.

The app is popular among students, who are increasingly utilizing technology to benefit their on-campus experience.

Since releasing the app, the BU interactive design team mobile has begun to move forward. In order to expand availability, the team is taking a new approach.

“These days, we are focusing more on the creation of mobile websites rather than apps that work only on one device type,” said Scott Dasse, creative director of the BU interactive design team.

MBTA Goes Mobile

MassDOT announced a challenge in Feb. 2010 for developers to create apps for MBTA riders, utilizing real-time location tracking software. The necessary codes were released to the public and apps were soon released on multiple platforms.

Using smartphone apps, MBTA riders can now locate the subway, bus and commuter rail in real time. Some apps also give directions, allowing users to plan trips in advance and provide emergency alerts.

Developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology freshman Alex Grinman with assistance from the BU mobile development team, the app “Where’s my MBTA Bus?” acts as a tracker for smartphone users.

Inspired by the BU Shuttle app, Grinman also released a smaller, free version of the app that tracks the seven buses that run through the BU Charles River campus.

Since then, the team at BU has officially established the BU Mobile Development Community, aiming to get more of the community involved in BU’s mobile presence.

Trevor MacDowell, who organizes discussions for the groups, has high hopes for its future and is proud of what they have done so far.

“The group is still in the early stages,” he said.

“But meets to share ideas, support each other’s development and host instructional talks from industry developers.”